We note the announcement today from the NRL regarding the sale of the Titans.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to comment to date on the Bears bid during the process due to legal constraints that come with being part of the sale process.

With the sale now complete, we are in a position to provide our valued supporters and stakeholders with some details about what has transpired.

During the diligence process on the NRL’s sale of its Gold Coast franchise, the North Sydney Bears consortium made the decision not to proceed with a formal bid as part of the NRL sale process and subsequently advised the NRL of this decision.

There are a number of reasons that contributed to this, one being the short formal due diligence timetable, which did not allow sufficient time for us to work through all of the issues required to submit a formal bid. This was particularly relevant to the Bears bid given the complexity around the Titans business. In the end, it meant we were unable to finalise our bid and ownership structure including the level of involvement of the Norths Group in the timeframes available.

It is worth noting that none of these issues related to the fundamental merit of the two-region model that we were promoting as the long-term solution for the Gold Coast franchise.

Our investors remain excited about the concept behind our bid and rest assured the Bears, with the support of our 230,000 fan base, remain committed to advocating for our partnership model as a way for the NRL to build a growing and sustainable national competition.

We believe this model is a solution for the games future growth and stability in key rugby league markets and will keep you all updated about any further developments.